Uncompressed video has long been a holy grail for SLR film-makers, with Magic Lantern edging one step closer to making it a reality.

(Credit: Canon)

Magic Lantern previously announced the team had successfully uncovered that the Canon range of SLRs could produce 2K RAW video. At the time, the hack was only able to pull around 10 to 14 frames per second (fps) of video from the 5D Mark III.

Since then, the team has come leaps and bounds, with the current mod being able to grab 1920x850 footage at 24fps, the more conventional frame rate for video.

Again, like all firmware hacks still in development, there are limitations with the implementation: recording is not true HD at 1920x1080, but wide screen at 2.35:1 aspect ratio which, results in black bars at the top and bottom of footage. Because the hack is pulling down RAW footage, every frame is around 3MB in size, so the team suggests 1000x CF cards to handle the load.

To see exactly what sort of latitude and the extended dynamic range RAW video gives, take a look at the comparison videos below. The first video is regular H.264 footage from an unmodified camera, showing blown out highlights in the outdoor areas, while the second video is footage from the RAW video hack. The difference is remarkable.

This isn't ready to be deployed just yet as a full release, though you can check out the discussion in the Magic Lantern forums for more information if you are a developer or just want to follow the progress.